The Divorce of Lady X (1938)

Too many fans seem to be blown away

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Excellent, a Must See

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Olivier acts according to the requirements of his role, and the suggestion made isn't of bourgeois uprightness, but rather of naivety (because in cinema, save that you actually read the script, the character means the actor, regardless of what you guess or get about what the character should be supposed to look like), Morton Selten calls the barrister a jackass; he made me think of March and, since this is a British screwball, of how March should of made his role in a '30s screwball along the way shown here by Olivier. The Englishman was obviously more _telluric, more earthly than March, but also how deprived of the dreaded blandness is his acting! (I mean it's not only that March wasn't as handsome; his acting too left to be desired, in the '30s screwball I am thinking of.) And it doesn't take him long to outshine his costar, till she seems quite limited; with him, you get the feeling that you watch one of the greatest actors ever. Being a farce, the script doesn't offer much as characterizations.A sitcom with a variety of means (the gags in the hotel scenes) and an average script, unpretentiously efficient, with a certain heartlessness and coldness, but also nicely understated, and (if not artful) it's crafty and likable, and a very good place to become fond of the leading actor, larger than life over a modest storyline; Olivier was indeed mind-blowing. Binnie Barnes, the unfaithful manipulative adventuress, statuesquely sexy.Will the fresh husband become like the cheated Lord, or like the shrewd judge? There are no signs that the latter stopped recognizing his own youthful steps in the newfound enthusiasm of his niece's husband.If the farce seems basic, the movie is superior; I have found amusing the gags, and appealing the smoothness and ability. In this sitcom is found one of the basic premises of the screwball: a woman's determination and initial decision to marry a yet unaware man; from the beginning, she knows she'll marry him.

Lawrence Olivier and Merle Oberon did two movies together within two years. One is considered one of the great romantic films of all time, and the movie that made Olivier a great movie star (and gave Oberon her best performance role): WUTHERING HEIGHTS. The other is this film, made in England a year earlier. THE DIVORCE OF LADY X is a romantic comedy (as WUTHERING HEIGHTS is a romantic tragedy). Olivier is a lawyer, Everard Logan, who is a dynamic barrister, but is also a total misogynist. One night he checks into a hotel just ahead of a crowd of people. It is a very foggy night (the type of pea soup fog that London was known for up until a notorious "killer" fog in the 1950s), and the crowd (who'd been attending a party in the hotel) need beds. The management tries to get Logan to allow one or two socialite ladies to sleep on a couch and a day bed in his rooms, but he refuses. But he has not reckoned with Merle Oberon as Leslie Steele. The granddaughter of a high court judge, she manages to get into Logan's rooms and manipulates him to not only agree to her sleeping there, but appropriates his bed (he goes onto the couch - much to his discomfort).The next day they share a breakfast, and in the smalltalk it is evident that despite his mistrust of women Logan finds Leslie very attractive. But she kittenishly refuses to tell him her name. She is determined to learn more about him, and she finds his attitude toward women infuriating. In the meantime, Logan is approached by a wealthy nobleman (Ralph Richardson as Lord Mere) as a potential client. Mere suspects his wife Lady Mere (Binnie Barnes) of having an affair. In fact, he tells Logan her Ladyship was with her lover in the hotel that Logan knows he was in on the night of the fog. Logan (naturally) jumps to the conclusion that Lady Mere was his mysterious roommate that night. I will not go into the plot any further, except to say that Leslie eventually realizes what a mistake Logan has made, and decides to use it to teach him a lesson about women.The script has the feel of a Wodehouse novel, but is slighter. Still the performances of Olivier, Oberon, Richardson, Barnes, and Morton Selden (as Oberon's grandfather) are all splendid. It shows what a good cast can do with even the slightest of materials. Take a look at some of the minor scenes to see what I mean: Selden's first scene, complaining about his weak coffee to his butler/valet, who tells him off properly (they've been used to each other's personalities for years). Or Olivier dealing with a young clerk in his office, who is certain there were two Lady Meres in the office two minutes before (there were, but Oberon and Barnes left together), and ends up thinking the poor clerk is a simpleton. Or the waiter in the hotel who can't understand why the tenant in Olivier's room is constantly changing from a man to a woman to a man. As I said, a slight charming comedy - but it is very charming.

This short, unique and original screen-play proved no short of brilliant. It has a simple and entertaining plot of charming but mischevious young Leslie (known at first as Lady X) imposing herself on a foggy night on irritable young masoganistic barrister Everard Logan. Logan declares that he is not in the least bit stirred by her charms, however she finally ends up enjoying his bed, pyjamas and breakfast whilst he has the mattress next door. Ofcourse, being the eligible handsome typical thing that he is, he falls in love with her and vows to arrange her divorce for her, (despite the fact she has no husband!) Ralph Richardson as Lord Mere (Leslie's supposed husband) and Binnie Barnes (the REAL Lady Mere)also help to put him in the light at last. Hurt and irritated, Logan throws his affections for Leslie back in her face and leaves. She goes after him, and naturally, they agree to the marriage finally that Logan had always wanted, and Leslie finalises in curing Logan of his haughtily sexist views. Some say Laurence Olivier is out of his depth in this sort of a film, since in no way is this Hamlet or Harry V or any great feat of literature such as Wuthering Heights, and in no way is he a born comedian. But he gives it unmatched gusto and IS HE SARCASTIC!! His scenes with Merle Oberon, who plays the sweet little charmer of a Leslie are delightful. Oberon is adorable and could not have been better as Leslie. It's been said before that Oberon and Olivier had a wonderful chemistry on screen, just as well as Leigh did in fact; however it could be argued so. They were just as contrastingly wonderful in Wuthering Heights, a classic film which I adore.If you're in the mood of a short but sweet comedy, you couldn't ask for better than this. Fantastic!

At one point in the film, Olivier is cross examining a woman accused of adultery during a divorce trial. She is acting coy and Olivier goes off into a rant against all women. Below is a quote of his words."Woman has a religion of her own, the ancient creed of womanhood. There is only one article of faith, but every woman sincerely and steadfastly believes in it, and that is she is the unique and perfect achievement of the human species, being especially evolved to be above criticism, beyond reproach and outside the law. Man in his folly and kindness has been bamboozled into accepting woman as a rational being and has granted her emancipation on that assumption. What is his reward? Modern woman has disowned womanhood and refuses man's obligations. She demands freedom but won't accept responsibility. She insists upon time to develop her personality and she spends it on cogitating on which part of her body to paint next. By independence, she means idleness. By equality, she means carrying on like Catherine the Great. By companionship with man, she means that he should wait upon her hand and foot. Modern woman has no loyalty, decency or justice; no endurance, reticence or self-control; no affection, fine-feelings or mercy. In short, she is unprincipled, relentless and exacting; idle, unproductive and tedious; unimaginative, humorless and vain; vindictive, undignified and weak, and the sooner man takes out his whip again, the better for sanity and progress."